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Farmstead Forest: Design timber harvest operations to benefit the species you want to thrive on your property.

Curt Arens, Editor, Nebraska Farmer

June 3, 2019

2 Min Read
logs in a pile in field
HARVEST WITH PURPOSE: Timber harvest provides income and clearing invasive trees can improve grazing, but how we cut trees from the land affects wildlife populations.

Most landowners love wildlife around their place. For farmers, ranchers and landowners, planting trees is not the only way to benefit wild species on their land. Harvest and tree cutting operations also can help wild populations.

For those who harvest timber products from their land or are involved in clearing land of invasive trees and shrubs, it is important to remember wildlife populations as forest resources are being removed.

Timber harvest and clearing land into open spaces can be useful management tools to improve the forest for wildlife. With so many acres of forestland in the upper Great Plains and across the country in private hands, wildlife populations can benefit greatly from strategic timber management by private landowners.

For wildlife, having enough energy to maintain health and reproduction are of primary concern. That’s why a variety of food sources and shelter are crucial.

Landowners first need to assess what wildlife they have living in their woodlands and the surrounding neighborhood. They also need to ask themselves which wild species will benefit from timber harvest or land clearing, and which ones might find harvest operations detrimental.

If you think about the range of different species, you understand that large mammals such as deer will cover hundreds of acres, but game birds might only use a few acres of habitat.

Of all the maladies that can affect wildlife populations — such as storms, winter weather, floods and drought, as well as predators, accidents and disease — populations probably are most affected by the quality and quantity of their habitat. The arrangement of cover, food, water and space can be crucial.

That’s why it’s important to get it right when cutting timber. Some wildlife populations benefit from leaving large patches of cleared areas, where trees and shrubs have been cut combined with large patches of living trees of varied sizes, as well as clumps of standing dead trees.

Some critters need large portions of forest alternated with open spaces and a mixture of forest patches. Some require a closed canopy of trees for shelter and food. Others prefer small reserve patches or strips of timber of varied heights.

Depending on the wildlife already present in the woods, timber harvest and clearing operations can be designed to benefit all kinds of wildlife on the farm and ranch woodlands.

How the harvest operations are handled can help wildlife. Leaving piles of brush strategically around the property can benefit some species. Mulching the slash piles, trees and stumps as ground cover can prevent erosion and provide habitat for smaller animals of the woodlands.

Most wildlife professionals agree that diversity is the key to healthy populations. Having diverse species in wetlands and woodlands helps wild creatures of all kinds. So, if you are planning timber harvest, take some time to consider wildlife in your planning efforts, and design your harvest operations to benefit the species you want to encourage on your property.

About the Author(s)

Curt Arens

Editor, Nebraska Farmer

Curt Arens began writing about Nebraska’s farm families when he was in high school. Before joining Farm Progress as a field editor in April 2010, he had worked as a freelance farm writer for 27 years, first for newspapers and then for farm magazines, including Nebraska Farmer.

His real full-time career, however, during that same period was farming his family’s fourth generation land in northeast Nebraska. He also operated his Christmas tree farm and grew black oil sunflowers for wild birdseed. Curt continues to raise corn, soybeans and alfalfa and runs a cow-calf herd.

Curt and his wife Donna have four children, Lauren, Taylor, Zachary and Benjamin. They are active in their church and St. Rose School in Crofton, where Donna teaches and their children attend classes.

Previously, the 1986 University of Nebraska animal science graduate wrote a weekly rural life column, developed a farm radio program and wrote books about farm direct marketing and farmers markets. He received media honors from the Nebraska Forest Service, Center for Rural Affairs and Northeast Nebraska Experimental Farm Association.

He wrote about the spiritual side of farming in his 2008 book, “Down to Earth: Celebrating a Blessed Life on the Land,” garnering a Catholic Press Association award.

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